PREVIOUSLY: Mariner
discovers the Husses are, in fact, Nazi sympathizers and plan to use
the radioactive meteorite they've found to help create a Nazi master
race. When Mariner refuses to go along with their scheme, he is shot...

Chapter 6:
Impending Cataclysm

Mariner groaned and opened his eyes.
His head ached, and he winced upon touching the spot where it had
struck a rock hidden among the ferns. His fingers came away sticky with
blood.

“I
should be dead by rights,” he
thought, touching his chest where the shot had found its mark. He felt
the small but thick book he had hurriedly stuffed in his pocket, and
removed it. The bullet had penetrated all but the last few pages.

“Well,
I can truly say a First Aid
manual saved my life,” came the amused thought.

Sobering, he climbed unsteadily to
his feet and looked about. He was alone and unarmed. Fear for Ma-Ku’s
safety tore at him like a savage beast, and all about the lush
vegetation was mute to his enquiring gaze.

A woman’s scream suddenly shattered
the humid stillness of the jungle, jarring his taut nerves.

Again, the wild cry rang out,
spurring him to action. Bursting through a tangle of vines, he came
upon a chilling scene. Ma-Ku had been bound stark naked to a tree, and
three mosquitoes as large as hawks were clinging to her, preparing to
drive their proboscises deep into her flesh.

Snapping off a branch he dashed to
the girl and swatted one glowing insect from her, breaking it in half.
The other two took flight, whining angrily around him. One landed on
his back, and he threw himself to the ground, crushing it beneath his
weight.

Rolling to his feet, Mariner glimpsed
the remaining mosquito resettling upon Ma-Ku’s belly. He reached the
girl in a single bound, tore the horrid thing from her and cast it to
the earth where he stomped it to a pulp.

“Praise be to Lao-tien-ye you’re
still alive,” gasped the girl as he cut her free with his pocket-knife
and caught her slim, but well formed body in his arms. “There is no
time to lose, the Germans have the meteorite and are heading for your
boat.”

He clung to her tightly, and she to
him. His mind was swirling with contrary emotions – vast relief that
she was safe, implacable hatred for the beasts that could do such a
thing.

Who are the true monsters?
Came his worrying thought. If men would know the Devil, then
perhaps all they need do is look at one another.

An ominous rumble interrupted further
reflection. Looking inland towards the source of the thunderous sound,
Mariner saw black smoke and fire erupting from the island’s volcano.
Already, lava was spilling out of its crater in a glowing flood, and a
rain of lava bombs and ash began to fall about them.

“Sweet Jesus!” cried Mariner as he
gazed in horror at the awesome spectacle. “We’ve got to get out of
here!”

Both ran madly through the clinging
verdure, the sound of volcanic explosions and falling ejecta spurring
them on. It seemed that all of Nature had turned against them and
sought with cruel perversity to hinder escape from the impending
cataclysm.

A sudden violent tremor shook the
island, as if some giant beast was stirring within the Earth’s
Plutonian depths, sending them tumbling to the ground. Ma-Ku clung to
Mariner as the mad undulations of the jungle floor shook the trees like
some mighty hand.

One tree, huge and stately, but
weakened with the rot of ages, began to topple under the lashings of
the earth. The tremendous cracking of its splintering timber drew
Mariner’s startled gaze, and he looked with horror as it fell upon them
like a giant’s club.

In a surge of panic he hauled the
frightened girl to her feet, and barely managed to drag her clear of
the collapsing titan, which flattened the place where they had lain
with fearsome force.

Onward they fled. Branches caught
Ma-Ku’s hair in their gnarled fingers, and tugged at Mariner’s clothes,
while rocks and roots seemed to rise from the earth to deliberately
trip the fleeing pair. After what seemed an age of headlong nightmarish
flight they finally burst upon the beach.

White Cloud still lay at
anchor in waist deep water fifty yards to their left. It was something
of a miracle that their mad dash had brought them so close to her, and
Mariner breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief. The Germans were nowhere
to be seen. Despite a head start their progress had obviously been
slowed by
the meteorite’s hefty weight.

A rifle cracked. Mariner cried out
and staggered as the bullet grazed his shoulder.

Huss watched the two running towards
the water’s edge. Somehow both were still alive, but he’d soon remedy
that. He smiled in triumph as he aimed the Lee-Enfield at Mariner’s
broad back.

“Kill them!” cried Mara, her face
livid with blood lust, for hell has no fury like a woman scorned. “Kill
them before they reach the boat.” And then, sotto voce: “If I can’t
have him, then neither will
that slut.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t miss this
time,” replied Huss as his finger slowly squeezed the trigger.